Rumsfeld: Fate of American Taleban Fighter Not Decided - 2001-12-05

U-S Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says officials have not yet decided what to do with an American suspected of fighting with the Taleban in Afghanistan.

Mr. Rumsfeld says the U-S national, identified as 20-year-old John Walker, will have all the rights entitled to him by law. Mr. Walker was among Taleban fighters taken prisoner by Northern Alliance forces after a prison revolt near Mazar-e-Sharif.

President Bush says it seems Mr. Walker could have been misled. In a television interview (on A-B-C), Mr. Bush says Mr. Walker must have been raised to know that the Taleban government, which suppresses women, is not the kind of government worth dying for.

U-S officials say Mr. Walker is in the custody of U-S special forces, and is receiving medical treatment for wounds he sustained in the bloody prison uprising. His father has pleaded for the U-S military to show mercy for his son.

The young man converted from Catholicism to Islam when he was 16, and went to Yemen and Pakistan to study Arabic and Islam.

Mr. Rumsfeld says he can not confirm reports that the Northern Alliance is holding two other Americans who fought with the Taleban. Another defense official who asked to remain anonymous did confirm the reports, and said U-S officials have not been able to meet with the two.